Like can I go into that field? I have a Computer Science degree (with some Economics background) and I'm doing a PhD in Natural Language Processing. I was thinking of joining an algorithmic trading firm that is based on analyzing social media, i.e what people talk about on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and how they feel about it. That's because according to behavioural economics, people make investment decisions based on how they feel. Is this field right for me or do I need to take some courses in Financial Engineering and Finance? What background do people generally have who work in Algorithmic Trading?